Wild horses try to outrun grizzly bear, and not all of them succeed
The accompanying trail-cam footage, courtesy of the Help Alberta Wildies Society, might sadden viewers when they learn that one of the foals was likely caught by the bear. (Click here if the video doesn't appear below.)
The fleeing horses enter the frame at 32 seconds. The bear's capture of the foal is not shown, but HAWS later explained that the third foal shown in the footage has not been seen since the June 20 chase.
'I believe this is the day we lost Benji,' HAWS stated.
HAWS, which strives to protect wild horses in the region, has a passionate social-media audience and some followers are emotionally attached to animals that regularly appear in trail-cam footage.
ALSO: Tense moments in Yellowstone as German Shepherd leaps from vehicle to chase wolf
The top comment on the post announcing that Benji had been lost: 'Poor little buggar! Gets mugged by mares in his herd, and then ends up bear food. Not a fun time for the short life of this baby.'
The top reply, which alludes to the mares' rough treatment of the foal in a previous video: 'My heart hurts for precious little Benji. I think he stole it when I saw the mares being mean to him in the first hours of his short life. I wanted to snatch him up and bring him home right then.'
HAWS has featured lots of footage showing bears chasing wild horses, repeatedly countering an old argument by the Alberta government that the horses have no natural predators.
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Vox
4 minutes ago
- Vox
The government stepped in to clean up a disaster in North Carolina. Then they created another one.
is an environmental correspondent at Vox, covering biodiversity loss and climate change. Before joining Vox, he was a senior energy reporter at Business Insider. Benji previously worked as a wildlife researcher. POLK COUNTY, North Carolina — The small section of forest before me looked as though it was clear-cut. The ground was flat and treeless, covered in a thin layer of jumbled sticks and leaves. This region, a wetland formed by beavers near the South Carolina border, was flooded last September by Hurricane Helene. But it wasn't the storm that razed the forest. It was the machines that came after. They were part of a hurricane cleanup effort, bankrolled by the federal government, that many environmental experts believe went very, very wrong. Helene hit North Carolina in late September last year, dumping historic amounts of rain that damaged thousands of homes, killed more than 100 people, and littered rivers with debris including fallen trees, building fragments, and cars. In the months since, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has sponsored an enormous cleanup effort in western North Carolina. It focused, among other things, on clearing debris from waterways for public safety. Storm debris left in rivers and streams can create jams that make them more likely to flood in the future. A contractor hauls away woody debris from a river in western North Carolina. Benji Jones/Vox In some parts of the state, however, cleanup crews contracted by the federal government removed much more than just dangerous debris. According to several state biologists, environmental experts, and my own observations from a recent trip to the area, contractors in some regions cleared live trees still rooted in the ground, logs that were in place well before the storm, and other natural features of the habitat that may not have posed a risk to public safety. These experts also told me that the Army Corps of Engineers — a government agency tasked by FEMA to oversee debris removal in several counties — failed to coordinate with the state wildlife agency to minimize harm to species that are in danger of extinction. Those include federally endangered freshwater mussels, which are essential for their role in keeping rivers clean, and hellbenders, iconic giant salamanders that the federal government says are imperiled. In some stretches of rivers and streams, the contractors ultimately did more harm to the environment than the storm itself, the experts said. The many scientists and environmental experts I spoke to say the main problem is the compensation system for companies involved in disaster recovery: Contractors are typically paid by the volume of debris they remove from streams, creating an incentive for them to take more debris than is necessary. 'They just removed everything.' — Hans Lohmeyer, stewardship coordinator at Conserving Carolina That's what happened in this partially destroyed beaver wetland, according to Hans Lohmeyer, the stewardship coordinator with an environmental group called Conserving Carolina, who took me to the wetland in June. 'They just removed everything,' Lohmeyer told me, pointing at the bald patch of forest where he said live trees that had survived Helene once stood. 'It's more advantageous for them to remove it all because they're getting paid for it.' The damage from Helene was relatively minor here, Lohmeyer said. And he claims that debris churned up by the storm didn't pose a serious flood risk. The wetland is a large natural area with few homes or buildings and plenty of room for floodwaters, he said. Yet contractors still leveled parts of the forest with excavators, clearing important wildlife habitat. Hans Lohmeyer stands next to a patch of forest that was cleared by debris removal contractors. Benji Jones/Vox 'We've just seen tons of excessive debris removal,' said Jon Stamper, river cleanup coordinator with MountainTrue, a nonprofit that's being funded by the state to clean up debris in smaller waterways. 'I couldn't even begin to tell you how many reports and phone calls and public outcries we've had about this.' Plenty of contractors have done a good job, he said, but many seem to be 'simply grabbing anything they can to make more money.' Cleanup contractors have faced scrutiny before. In the months after deadly floods swept through southeastern Kentucky in 2022, a report by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting claimed that debris-removal contractors — including AshBritt and its subcontractors, one of the firms contracted by the Army Corps in North Carolina — took trees they shouldn't have and ignored complaints from residents, prompting lawsuits. (At least some of the claims against the company have since been dismissed, court records show.) Then there's the risk of climate change: Rising global temperatures are only likely to increase the need for debris removal, by making natural disasters like floods more frequent and severe in some areas. That will come at a steep cost to public safety and to the economy — Helene's costs have so far amounted to nearly $80 billion. And without better cleanup systems in place, it will be especially devastating for the wild animals that need intact ecosystems to survive. Scientists say government contractors were careless and likely killed scores of endangered species I initially traveled to North Carolina for a story about how damage from Hurricane Helene is pushing some already rare animals closer to extinction. For endangered salamanders like the Hickory Nut Gorge green — a striking amphibian with black skin and splotches of green — forest loss caused by Helene's floodwaters is a new and urgent threat. But as I spoke with experts for the story, they told me that a bigger problem for animals in some rivers and streams has actually been the cleanup after the storm. To clean up debris from Helene, counties in western North Carolina either enlisted help from the Army Corps of Engineers — which then hired contractors — or contracted debris removal companies themselves. In both cases, FEMA provided financial support. According to three state biologists and several other experts familiar with North Carolina's stream ecology, it was debris removal contractors working under the Army Corps that created the worst environmental problems. AshBritt, one of the Corps' big contractors, managed debris removal in Polk County, where I saw the partially deforested beaver wetland. I also visited a stream west of Hendersonville called Little River that was cleaned up by a different Army Corps contractor. Share a tip Do you have information about disaster cleanup in North Carolina? Reach out to or benjijones@ (encrypted). Find me on Signal at benji.90. In Little River, cleanup contractors severely damaged the stream ecosystem, which is home to the world's highest density of the endangered Appalachian elktoe mussel, said Luke Etchison, a biologist at the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC), the state wildlife agency. Giant excavators drove over the riverbed, almost certainly crushing elktoes and burying rocks used by hellbenders, the largest salamanders in North America, he said. The contractors also left parts of the bank bare and almost certainly removed natural habitat features that were not a flood hazard, according to Etchison. On a warm and sunny morning in June, Etchison and his colleague Michael Perkins, another state biologist, visited Little River for an informal survey. I tagged along. The river was shallow and calm with a rocky bottom and flanked by shrubs and trees. It looked like a pretty typical river — and it was beautiful. We threw on wetsuits, goggles, and snorkels and waded into the cold water. It was only when we swam around with our heads tilted to the riverbed that I started to see some of the impacts Etchison was describing: crushed elktoe shells, broken rocks, and hardly any of the debris that crayfish and hellbenders use, such as old logs and large, flat boulders. Perhaps most telling was that we saw fewer than two dozen elktoe mussels that day. Past surveys at this exact site turned up several hundred of them, Etchison said. Etchison holds up one of the many broken shells we collected while snorkeling in Little River. Benji Jones/Vox Perkins said that people often have the perception that debris removal is 'charitable work,' but it's not. 'This was a taxpayer-funded endeavor,' he said, and some contractors 'are making millions by removing not just woody debris but also thousands of live, healthy or otherwise undamaged trees and vegetation that pose no risk to life or infrastructure.' In another river, known as the West Fork French Broad, a technician working with NCWRC told me that he saw similar signs of damage. Rocks that hellbenders live under were fractured, covered in sediment, or pushed into the riverbed, he said. From his experience walking the stream before and after debris removal, he also claims that contractors removed habitat features that were not a flood risk — either because they were here before the storm or not obstructing the channel. 'I don't know what's a more telling sign that something is not a threat to a future flood than something that was in the river before this flood and in the exact same place after,' the technician told me. 'They were operating in these rivers, treating them like highways, driving up and down, crushing everything.' — Lori Williams, state wildlife biologist Etchison and two other state biologists allege that the Army Corps made little effort to coordinate with NCWRC to avoid harming threatened and endangered species. Once they learned that debris removal was underway, NCWRC sent Army Corps and other disaster recovery officials a one-page document with guidance on how to minimize harm to the ecosystems, such as by leaving stumps in place and, when possible, driving machines on the bank and not in the riverbed. The agency also produced detailed maps that marked areas with rare species, including the section of Little River that I visited. In those areas, the maps say, contractors should avoid running heavy machinery in the stream bed. NCWRC biologists asked the Corps to coordinate with them if they're clearing debris from rivers in those areas. A hellbender we caught in Mills River. Benji Jones/Vox 'We gave them [the Army Corps] all of this information and they ignored it,' Lori Williams, a conservation biologist and hellbender expert at NCWRC, told me. 'They were operating in these rivers, treating them like highways, driving up and down, crushing everything.' Early one morning I talked to a couple workers who were clearing debris from a stream north of Asheville. They were both from out of state and hadn't heard any complaints about their work. Locals were happy they were cleaning up, they told me. But I also heard another story. A man named Nathan Turpin, who briefly worked for a subcontractor of AshBritt doing debris removal, told me that he left the job, in part, because of the focus on 'production.' Related These photos are literally saving jaguars 'I ended up walking off the job just for the fact that we were pressured to produce a lot of yardage of debris every day to make a profit,' Turpin, who said he drove a dump truck, told me. 'There were a lot of plants and trees I saw that were being destroyed for no reason.' Who deserves blame — and are they accepting it? No single company or organization is at fault for the mismanaged debris removal, experts told me. Cleaning up involves a messy constellation of state and federal government agencies, private contractors and subcontractors, and independent monitors that audit the work. There are so many people involved that it's difficult to figure out who does what — and who's paying for it. And when you start asking questions, everyone involved tends to just point at each other. Key takeaways Scientists claim that cleanup from Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina was careless and damaged the environment and wildlife in some areas. They claim that contractors hired by the Army Corps of Engineers, a federal agency, cleared far more debris from rivers than was necessary for public safety, removing habitat features there before Helene hit. They claim that those contractors were motivated by a perverse incentive common in the debris removal industry: companies are paid by volume, so the more debris they remove, the more money they stand to make. The Army Corps told Vox that its contractors follow strict environmental guidelines to avoid undue ecological harm and it does not tolerate over-clearing of debris. The Corps provided detailed comments that experts Vox spoke to generally disagree with. Debris removal is nearly finished, but environmental experts say there's a big opportunity to make future cleanup efforts less destructive — largely, by changing the incentives for contractors. FEMA declined an interview request. In a written statement, FEMA told Vox that North Carolina coordinated with federal and state agencies to provide guidance for debris removal to counties and the Army Corps including measures to minimize environmental impacts. Those measures include using high-profile machines in riverbeds, so they don't bottom out, and filling heavy machinery with biodegradable hydraulic fluid, FEMA said in the statement. The details of that guidance are not clear. FEMA directed my follow-up questions to the Army Corps, which declined to share the environmental guidance that contractors were given. The Army Corps similarly declined an interview request, though it shared detailed comments in response to our reporting. The Army Corps told Vox that its contractors and subcontractors are required to follow strict environmental rules to minimize environmental harm — though again, it's not clear what those rules are. The agency also said that it does not tolerate over-clearing of debris. 'Contractors that exceed limits receive warnings or are removed from the job,' according to the statement. Dave Connolly, chief of public affairs for the Corp's Wilmington District, said the agency has not issued warnings or removed contractors. The agency also said it 'constantly' has quality assurance specialists on site to verify that contractors are removing only what they're tasked to remove. Some environmental experts I spoke to said the Army Corps didn't have sufficient oversight over their contractors or subcontractors to know whether or not they were over-extracting debris. The Army Corps also told me that 'wildlife biologists and environmental experts have been involved throughout the operation, particularly in areas where endangered species are known to exist.' That ensures cleanup has a minimal impact on wildlife and their habitats, the statement said. The state biologists I spoke to said that at least some of the wildlife biologists hired by debris removal contractors have little knowledge of the local endangered and threatened species. The Army Corps noted that they shared 'mapping data' with the state wildlife agency that's meant to indicate where contractors would be working. According to the Corps, that gave NCWRC the opportunity to advise workers when debris removal is happening in ecologically sensitive areas. The agency said it would 'attempt to adjust the debris removal plan in that area, and/or allow wildlife specialists the opportunity to temporarily relocate any discovered wildlife until debris removal in that specific location is complete.' The state biologists I spoke to said Army Corps contractors showed little indication that they would adjust a debris removal plan to spare rare animals. And often, the state agency wasn't aware of where the cleanup was happening because the mapping data was so hard to parse. 'We were not given the chance to locate and move animals out of harm's way,' Williams said. Although AshBritt declined to comment on the record, the Army Corps defended its work with the company: 'USACE's decision to contract with AshBritt was made after a thorough evaluation of their capabilities, experience, and past performance in emergency response operations,' the Corps said in its statement. 'There is no evidence to suggest AshBritt is unable to successfully fulfill its contracts.' (See here for a more detailed response from the Army Corps to our reporting.) Most of the damage from cleanup is already done. Scientists are looking to the next natural disaster. Killing federally threatened and endangered species, like elktoes and another mussel variety known as longsolids, is typically a crime — because they're protected by the Endangered Species Act (ESA). And that's why some environmental advocates have suggested to me that debris removal in certain regions, such as Little River, may have been illegal. I raised this with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the ESA. Gary Peeples, the acting supervisor for the Asheville Field Office, told me that, at least so far, debris removal is not violating the act, even if it's killing endangered species. This is a bit wonky, but: Typically, the USFWS consults with federal agencies — in this case, FEMA, because it's financing the Corps's work — before taking actions that harm endangered species. Those agencies then receive what's called an incidental take statement, which creates an exception and essentially legalizes harm to federally protected species (assuming their actions don't jeopardize the entire existence of the species). In an emergency, however, consultation happens while the action is already underway, Peeples said. That's what happened here. In the coming weeks, he said, FEMA is supposed to report on how they've impacted endangered species, at which point the service will issue the agency a take statement. FEMA and the Army Corps have been 'diligently monitoring and documenting' the potential impacts of debris removal on threatened and endangered species, the Army Corps told me in its statement. A pile of woody debris on the banks of a stream north of Asheville. Benji Jones/Vox 'From the legal standpoint, we must remember that the Endangered Species Act does allow for harmful impacts to species,' said Peeples. Still, he added, the impact of debris removal 'pains' him. 'Not only am I a biologist who works here, but I'm a resident who lives here and recreates in these areas,' he said. 'It is grossly unfortunate how things have played out.' Beyond raising alarm among local environmental experts, the cleanup has also prompted significant public outcry. And those complaints haven't gone unnoticed. In May, a number of state residents, including environmental advocates, met with Rep. Chuck Edwards — a Republican who represents western North Carolina — to express their concerns. Afterward, Edwards announced a new agreement with FEMA and the Army Corps 'to improve accountability and transparency' in the cleanup process. Under that agreement, landowners can mark important trees and other landscape features with flags. 'These flagged areas will not be disturbed until the property owner, the county, and USACE [US Army Corps of Engineers] engage in a consultation,' according to the announcement. Edwards also uploaded maps of where the Army Corps is working to his website. Tread marks from heavy machinery that was used to clear debris from a stream in western North Carolina. Benji Jones/Vox It's not clear whether this flagging approach has worked, or whether it was simply too little, too late. Edwards's office declined an interview request and, along with FEMA and the Army Corps, did not respond to a request to see the agreement. The opportunity now, experts told me, is to make future debris removal better — to learn from what environmental advocates call egregious mistakes. There are really only two things that those advocates want. The first is to change the incentive structure in the disaster recovery industry. Paying contractors by volume is 'the biggest problem,' Williams, the state biologist, told me. 'It puts a dollar sign on literally every leaf, stick, twig, [and] blade of grass out there. That's how these people are making money.' Instead, Williams, Lohmeyer, and other experts recommended paying contractors by linear foot — meaning the more distance they cover, the more money they make — or by job. A job might be, say, clearing debris from a particular creek or property. The other key ask is that the Army Corps and disaster recovery companies coordinate with regional environmental experts — the people, like Williams and Etchison, who typically know the ecology of the rivers far better than contractors. State biologists are not asking to stop or even slow debris removal. Just to take more care in regions known to contain incredibly rare creatures. Where cleanup has gone right(ish), hellbenders still lurk In some regions of North Carolina river, cleanup left a much smaller scar. According to Etchison and some of his colleagues, waterways in counties that opted to work with a contractor called Southern Disaster Recovery (SDR) instead of Army Corps contractors were generally left in better shape. SDR tended to listen to state biologists, he told me. 'They've done a pretty good job coordinating with us,' Etchison said. For example, when Etchison asked an SDR subcontractor to avoid removing specific bits of habitat, such as a log home to freshwater mussels, the contractor listened, Etchison said. That may be because SDR and their subcontractors are paid by linear foot to remove debris (though they're paid by volume to haul it away). As a result, Etchison said, there's still lots of large woody debris and big rocks for hellbenders to hide and nest under. After the survey in Little River, I drove with Etchison and Perkins to the banks of Mills River, which was cleaned up by SDR. This river, Etchison told me, was a good place to find hellbenders — in part, he said, because cleanup didn't wreck the waterway. There are still plenty of logs and bramble on the bank and big rocks for hellbenders to hide and nest under. 'If you have to do it, it was done the right way,' Etchison said of debris removal here. We slid down the bank and stepped into the cold water, which was waist deep and moving quickly. The water was murky, so we couldn't see the bottom, making walking tough and finding a hellbender tougher. Etchison and Perkins used their hands and feet to feel around for the kinds of rocks that these Hulkish salamanders love — large and flat, with a gap underneath that they can squeeze into. When they found such a rock, Perkins would position a seine in front of it and Etchison would lift the rock up. Then we'd check the net to see if a salamander had entered. We did this for more than an hour, catching mostly leaves and mud and a few crayfish and small fish. But eventually, somehow, this approach worked. Etchison lifted up a small slab of concrete on the riverbed and when Perkins lifted up the net, there was a squirming hellbender. These animals are famously ugly-cute: slimy brown with wrinkly skin, tiny eyes, and pudgy little hands. They look like something out of a Miyazaki film. The hellbender we caught. Benji Jones/Vox Perhaps worrying about the future of unconventionally attractive animals like this is not a priority for everyone in the wake of disaster. Biologists have a hard time rallying the public around salamanders, especially compared to animals of the large and fluffy variety. Yet it's the hellbenders and the mussels and the crayfish and the fish that make these ecosystems so unique and healthy enough to support our own needs. Mussels clean the water. Crayfish break down debris. Hellbenders tell us when rivers may be polluted. While traveling in North Carolina I was constantly reminded that natural disasters are disasters for these animals, too. And that's troubling for North Carolina's utterly epic array of creatures because many regions — including the American Southeast — will likely face more flooding in the decades to come as the planet warms. The least we can do is be smart about how we react to it.
Buzz Feed
7 days ago
- Buzz Feed
33 Nightmare House Guests You'll Never Invite Back
We covered a Reddit thread by u/Jentenny99 where they asked people to reveal the weirdest thing a guest has ever done in their home. That post seemed to resonate with BuzzFeed Community members because they began sharing their own nightmare guest stories. Here's what they revealed: "My brother-in-law and his wife had a huge, totally untrained German Shepherd. We had a 2-year-old who was terrified of dogs and had asked that they not bring it when they came to visit. They agreed but showed up with the dog anyway. We had a storage building, and said they could put the dog in the storage building. It was Thanksgiving in Indiana — chilly but not freezing — and we thought the storage building was a good solution. They brought the dog into the house during the night. It got into the trash, dragged it all over the house, and ate some used disposable diapers, which it then vomited back up all over the house. We awoke to a mess and a screaming child. They and my husband's parent thought we were being unreasonable for being unhappy that they ignored our request." "Once, two former, very religious friends dropped by my place unexpectedly. We were chatting in the kitchen when the wife wandered into the adjacent dining area and began reading a letter I had left open on the table. This letter was from a high school friend who had recently gotten married (she's a lesbian) and had sent some wedding pictures. The wife saw the pictures and began screaming, which made her husband rush over. They immediately began mocking my high school friend. I got angry and told them they had no right to read my mail or judge my friend. They quieted down and apologized, but then the husband asked, 'So, which one is the man?' and they both began to laugh uncontrollably. At that point, I was so furious that all I could do was point to the door." "My mother-in-law lived with us after she had lost her job and sold her house immediately at a loss. She repotted all my plants and stuffed them into pots to 'save space.' She cut up our good laundry towels because she needed rags for her art (even though we had a bag full of rags in the garage). She gave me $100 every two months to cover her expenses (her portion of electricity, rent, food, etc.). She used my measuring cups to mix her glue for her art. Finally, she complained to her son about how I didn't keep the house very clean, even though I was working full time plus overtime and taking night classes while she and her son worked part-time and did nothing else." "My brother and his wife came down on July 3 to spend two nights for a family 4th of July party. I fixed a nice dinner and homemade dessert that night, and they stayed in our very nice guest room. I fixed a good breakfast in the morning, and we were preparing for the family event. My brother was trying to use my quirky little electric can opener and couldn't get it to work, and was complaining about it not working. He is extremely narcissistic and insisted he was using it right, but that it was broken. When I told him it worked fine and that I would show him how it worked, he exploded into a rage, spouting extremely obnoxious curse words, screaming at me and my fiancé, with whom I lived, and said he was leaving." "A friend was visiting us, and we watched a movie in the living room. The friend disappeared, and when we finally looked for him, we found him removing food from our fridge and putting it into his bag. When asked why he would do such a thing, his response was, 'I was there when you bought it.'" "We hosted a wedding at our lakehouse home. While waiting for the ceremony to start, the groomsmen drank all of my husband's beer from our bar fridge and sat ON our kitchen counters. They tossed beer caps into our sink, so I had to fish them out of the drain so they wouldn't break the disposal. There's a trash can IN the kitchen; it's not hidden. There are plenty of chairs at the table to sit in. These were GROWN men." "A high school friend of my husband's had asked if she and her family (boyfriend and 5-year-old daughter) could stay at our house for a couple of days while they were in town. I didn't know them, but I was okay with it. They showed up with a car full of stuff; it looked as if they had been living out of their car. Of course, a couple of days quickly turned into a week, with no end in sight. I quietly gritted my teeth when I saw them sitting in my guest bed, eating nachos while their daughter ran wild and making big messes for me to clean up. Then, one day, they had a big argument, and the boyfriend took off with their daughter, leaving behind the girlfriend/mother without her wallet (deliberately). She had no money, ID, or car, and apparently nobody was willing to take her off our hands." "My brother-in-law was visiting friends in Florida. He always wore a thong but took it to a new level when he decided to grab a morning coffee in the kitchen, Winnie the Pooh-style (no pants, T-shirt). Our friend's wife entered the kitchen and was shocked to see him standing there, calmly drinking coffee. Also, he sunbathed nude in the backyard and sunned himself on the floaty in the pool. Their neighbors complained. I hope they burned all the furniture in the backyard." "An old friend, whom I had not seen in years, visited me for about a week. About two-thirds of the way through her visit, the pipe in our only bathroom burst, and the plumbers told us to use buckets of water to flush the toilet. When I told my guest, my guest said, 'Oh, that's okay. I just peed in your mug and dumped it down the sink.' I asked her not to do that again and to use the bucket instead and fill it with water to flush. She then said to me, 'But urine is sterile. I've drunk my own urine before. Monks do it all the time.' Needless to say, I was speechless." "A fairly new friend I'd been hanging out with frequently was letting a friend of his from out of town have his one-room downtown apartment for a handful of days. My roommate had recently moved out, so I invited my friend to stay at my place in the burbs. I gave him my room and slept on the couch. I knew he had a drinking problem, and some red flags were building up, but he was polite during his stay, and we got along well. He apologized for running out of time to wash the bedding when he left. I said no problem, but when I went to wash the sheets, I found he had been humping my pillows, a lot by the looks of them! I washed everything twice, threw out my crusty pillows, and ended the friendship. Dude, I put my face on those things. How would washing my pillowcases make that okay?" "A friend's son, wife, and 16-month-old child came to escape the heat. He told us his wife would be working and needed a quiet space every day. We gave her an extra bedroom. We gave her an extra bedroom. That lasted a few hours. She used every room, ignored the child all day, took tables, lamps, and even drawers from a desk in one of the rooms, and piled everything on top of each other in the closet. She did not put the room back together. Every morning, they would go out and come back with coffee, and she would eat something hidden in a little bag. They never asked us if we wanted anything or offered to take us out for a meal or contribute a single thing. To top it all off, she hid my dog's favorite toy in a Halloween decorations box in a closet. I discovered it last Halloween! It was so easy saying no to their request to come back for a few days this month, now with a 3-year-old and a 5-month-old. They are extremely wealthy but clueless." "Around 20 years ago, my (now ex) husband's brother was moving from California to New York and asked if he could stay with us for three days between when he gave up his apartment until he was scheduled to leave. No problem. He didn't mention he'd be bringing his cat. I was highly allergic to cat dander. Tears would stream down my face from the time I got home at night until I left for work again in the morning. I bought some Benadryl and decided to tough it out because it was only for three days. Six months later, he was still there. He made a mess, was disrespectful of our need for sleep, and never cleaned or contributed in any way, even though we both worked full time while trying to get our own business off the ground." "One of my son's friends' girlfriend came over to my house for a few drinks. When I left to use the bathroom, I came back to the kitchen to find her with her pants down and peeing in the sink! WTH?!" "I gave a young friend a wedding shower. I'm a pretty good cook/hostess, so I went all out on the food and drinks. I set up a buffet with many choices and a drink station (no alcohol). My friend's future aunt was in front of me at the buffet. She ate a chocolate-covered strawberry and put the stem on the buffet. I didn't say anything until she tasted a dip and then put the spoon back in the dip. I was furious. I told her to pick up the stem and put it on her plate, and if she wanted to know how something tasted, she should put some on her plate and use her own spoon to taste it from there. Of course, I removed the dip." "In my early 20s, after college, a few friends and I had an apartment in Boston. One of our other close friends lived at home after college but would come and stay with us during the weekend and stay over after hitting the bars/nightclubs with us. He was usually a good guest. However, after a while, he got too comfy at our place. One weekend, he got sick from drinking too much, puked on our wood floors, and cleaned it by wiping it up with old newspaper. No soap or cleansers! Another weekend, he held a party at our place for some of his other friends without asking for our blessing or inviting us! He just had guests come over for a party he threw at our house!" "Some family came for Thanksgiving for the first time. They brought their dog (without we have cats) and lots of drugs. The entire five days were a drunken drug fest with their dog lying all over our furniture and in our bed and chasing our pets. They were drunk and stoned the entire time while fighting and giving each other the silent treatment. Happy Thanksgiving. Never again!" "My partner's daughter came from out of town and stayed with us. She is over 40 and rudely bossed her father around every day. She stayed in our guest bedroom, which had been my deceased daughter's bedroom. I kept many of her things in the dresser and closet. One morning, she came downstairs and informed me she was bored the previous evening and went through all my daughter's belongings. She had the nerve to ask for a Gucci handbag that she had taken down from the top shelf in the closet. I was speechless and asked for an apology. Didn't happen." "Friends of my ex-husband stayed with us between moving houses. I came home earlier than expected and found the wife leaving with a cooler of meat from my freezer. Her sister was 'facing hard times' and needed it. They could have actually stayed with her because she had room, but our place was 'nicer.'" "My ex-roommate invited a friend to sleep on our couch for a few weeks…without asking me first. I went along with it despite the rough start. The guest decided to help herself to our food and constantly left the front door unlocked, so I counted the days until she was gone. One Saturday morning, I was rudely awakened by the sound of a vacuum running before 6:00 a.m. However, my vacuum was still broken from the last bad roommate! I walked into the common area to see the house guest blowing up my air mattress with a strange guy. They popped my air mattress before 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday!" "A relative of my foster mother's would come over whenever she liked and tie up the phone for hours. Even if no one were home, she'd let herself in (doors were never locked) and go straight to the phone! If we were home, no one was allowed to do anything other than sit still and be quiet until she finished. Bathroom trips were the only escape allowed. It was considered impolite to leave while she was on the phone!" "My best friend from high school and her husband asked if they could stay with us on their way from Florida to northern Michigan. It was no problem until I came home from work to find she had gone through all my drawers and jewelry and set aside pieces she wanted me to give her! Her husband warned her I wouldn't like it, but she assured him we shared everything. I was mortified at the invasion of my privacy and snatched my things up. She kept bugging me to give her a certain pin. I was really mad. That was the last time I left her alone in my home." "We met a seemingly nice couple while traveling in Turks and Caicos. We dined and visited a few places on the island since we had a rental car. The other couple was staying a day longer and wondered if we wanted to leave the car with them. Uh, no. We needed it to get to the airport. The next thing we knew, they said they would be traveling through our town and suggested they visit us. We accommodated them, and even though they knew we had a 14-year-old son at home, the wife traveled back and forth from their guest room to the bath next to my son's room in a bra and underwear. Not appropriate!" "My husband's cousin and his wife stayed with us for nearly a week. They had bottles of cheap wine in their suitcases and drank continually. We bought and prepared all the meals and would open a bottle of wine, but we were lucky to get one glass before they finished it off. Everywhere we went, they would stand back from the cashier, even when visiting a museum that they requested to visit, and would wait for us to open our wallets. They insisted on dropping into Trader Joe's before they left to buy as many bottles of cheap wine as they could fit into their suitcase. We did speak to them about their drinking, but they shrugged it off. I don't know which was more annoying, their unwillingness to offer to pay for anything or their unwillingness to open a bottle of wine and share with us. We stayed with them previously and paid for everything, by the way." "We lived in the country and had a beautiful view. One of my husband's work colleagues asked if she could have her 'very tiny' wedding at our house because it was her dream setting. She promised it was just a couple of immediate family members. Turns out there were over 100 people. We came home to patio furniture in the pool, not one sheet remaining of our toilet paper or paper towels, ruined bath towels, a backed-up septic system, mud all over the kitchen countertops, and a garage filled with trash. I wouldn't treat a cheap motel that badly!" "When I was a kid, whenever we went on holiday, my grandma would pop in to feed the cat, water plants, etc. We'd return every time to find she had rearranged the living room furniture! The first few times, my mum was furious. After that, it became a running joke. She would move stuff around, but only little things, to see if we'd notice. It's still a bit annoying, but much less so than having to re-rearrange the living room when you've got a bunch of holiday laundry to deal with!" "Against my better judgment (and the advice of my own mother), I let my sister, her husband, and her young son stay with us when they lost their apartment. They had lost multiple apartments because they would stay without paying rent until the landlord figured out a way to kick them out. But she was family, and I couldn't turn her away. While there, they would hide their own food in their room, but eat all our food. At the time, we were installing wood flooring in the living room, so the rule was that there would be no eating or drinking in the living room. I would get up in the morning (because I had to go to work early, so they were still up when I went to bed), and there would be the wrappers from Icy Pops in the living room, so obviously, that rule was ignored." "My husband's aunt and teenage cousin asked to stay with us for two nights (Sunday to Tuesday). I wanted to make them feel welcome, so I made a big dinner both nights, complete with homemade apple pie and crumb cake (my specialty). I also made breakfast and lunch for them, and rescheduled my 2-year-old daughter's gym classes so I could spend time with them. Things were okay, but my husband and I were slightly disappointed because they were sloppy, ate all our food, etc., and never offered to contribute anything. The cousin actually drank an entire gallon of milk and ate all of the homemade chocolate chip cookies I had made. When I asked the aunt to watch my daughter while I ran out to buy more milk, she said no!" "My mom used to have a bestie from school days. At some point, her friend and her adult friend's son stayed with us because he had to apply for a military school in our city. Long story short, they stayed the entire summer, they wrecked our phone bill, they had the AC on 24/7 ( of course, never did they pay for anything ), and when they finally left, her husband suggested that my mom and I stay in one of their summer houses (they were extremely wealthy) during our hollidays. We accepted it, but her son decided to let his pit bull attack my dog during our stay. I rescued my dog at the last minute, and I told him that he was mean by nature and a douchbag. We stopped talking with them until my mom died. Her friend came to the ceremony, where she decided to tell me that my dead dad wasn't my real dad and that my dead mom should have told me years ago. By the way, my face is identical to my father's." "I don't know if this counts as a house guest because it was someone I met at a bar, took home, and haven't seen since that night. I don't even remember his name or if I ever knew it. Lucky for him, because he somehow ordered hundreds of dollars worth of porn on my cable TV account at some point?! I guess he did it while I was using the bathroom because nothing else about that night was good enough to hold my attention long enough for him to do that unnoticed. Lucky for ME, Comcast gave me the benefit of the doubt and refunded the charges because I had never ordered anything like that before." "When my husband and I moved into our new house, my brother-in-law asked if his family (his girlfriend, their kid, and their dog) could rent out the basement until they had saved up to get an apartment. We said okay. At first, it was okay. Then, their dog got pregnant because they hadn't spayed her. She gave birth, and they didn't lift a finger to help with seven pups. My husband and I paid for all the food and vet bills. We raised, cleaned, socialized, and found homes for them. That's only the start. We asked them to use the shed outside to smoke weed and not smoke in the house. They didn't care. They not only smoked inside, but the girlfriend smoked 24/7 until she made herself physically ill from so much weed and vomited all over our floor. They both refused to clean the puke and let it sit for days until my husband cleaned it. This happened multiple times." "My wife's sister, who lives 11 hours away, likes to travel. She has money and occasionally talks about how much she has in the bank. Travel is a fun pastime, but instead of hotels, she regularly finds distant relatives, friends, etc., to stay with. Last summer, she rented her house for a week, so she had no place to stay, and then asked if she could stay with us for a few days. We said no problem. After the first three days, she asked if she could stay longer and if her son could come too and sleep on the couch for a few days. Once again, we said okay. She then added that her son's new girlfriend would also be staying. The short stay turned into a week. Despite having money for dinners, drinks, etc., they never contributed to any food. My wife accepted this behavior since her sister has always been like this." "My live-in boyfriend at the time invited his friend and his friend's family of four (plus two dogs) to stay at my two-bedroom apartment for a weekend. Mind you, he did not pay rent or share any household expenses. I politely reminded him of my apartment complex's no-dog rule and expected him to tell his friends to stay elsewhere. I came home from work to find them, their dogs, and their luggage in my living room. I reluctantly set up the air bed and kicked my kid out of her bedroom so they could stay in it." And: "We met a middle-aged, single, Australian man while on a trip to Britain. Two years later, he called to say he was coming for a visit to Canada. We told him clearly that I, now working full time, was also dealing with both my mother and father in the hospital, who were dying. We had no idea that he intended to crash with us for free for three weeks, and he expected his meals on time, his laundry done, and free transportation everywhere, to whatever he wanted to see. He was also continually rude and abusive to my husband, who was only attempting to get him to pitch in for costs and allow me precious time with my parents. Our future travels have not included sharing addresses or phone numbers with others we meet." Have you ever had a horrible house guest? What did they do? Tell us in the comments or share anonymously using this form. Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Newsweek
14-07-2025
- Newsweek
Crates Couldn't Contain Escape Artist Dog, So Owner Builds 'Jail' Instead
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. When German Shepherd and Husky mix, Lana, escaped three different crates, her owner Mark knew that he had to take action. But what started as a DIY solution to an unusual problem has been dubbed "incredible" online, after he shared how they built their pup her very own custom "jail." "We had gotten her an impact crate, but as she grew it made us sad how tight it was," Mark, from North Carolina, told Newsweek. Instead of a traditional dog crate, Mark, who only shared his first name, came up with a brilliant idea—a custom space for the dogs with a metal door. Before long, what was once a closet quickly became a space for the dogs to relax and be safe. Mark transformed it into a tiled haven with LVT walls, a custom metal door and even an air conditioning vent in the ceiling. Pictures of the custom crate room that now serves as the perfect space for the dogs to realx. Pictures of the custom crate room that now serves as the perfect space for the dogs to realx. ocularcrawdad/Reddit "It was decently expensive and a big job," he said. "It used to be a closet but it opened to the bathroom. I had to close off the original door and create a new door to the bedroom." But the effort was worth it, knowing giving four-year-old escape artist Lana and 10-year-old Labrador George somewhere to kick back and relax. "I even put a nest camera at the top corner so I can check in while we are gone. It turned out pretty awesome," Mark added. Dog crates are designed to provide dogs with a contained space, often used in training and popular with many pet owners, trainers, and veterinarians. Despite this, but they remain a subject of debate due to concerns about animal welfare and misuse. He shared the DIY project on Reddit's popular r/germanshepherds subreddit where it has gained more than 20,000 upvotes since being posted last week. Captioned "crates couldn't contain her so we built a jail...," people shared their reactions and praise for the innovative dog-containment idea in the comments. "Awe she even looks guilty," wrote Hot_Target8701, pointing out Lana's face in the pictures. While Rose_like_the_flower said: "This is awesome! Poor sweet girl. I'm sure she was framed." "She needs a harmonica and a tin cup to bang on the bars," joked Madame_Jarvary. While others were heavily inspired by the idea. Like KevinSpicyy who said: "This is an incredible idea. I'm gonna have to involve this in my future home. Thank you for posting!!" While SheBelongsToNoOne said: "It looks pretty comfortable and way better than a crate to be honest." Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@ with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
